Posted on: Monday 13 May 2024
This Foster Care Fortnight, 13 - 26 May, Foster Wales Torfaen is calling on people in the area to consider becoming foster carers to support local children and young people in need.
Recent research by Foster Wales, the national network of local authority fostering services, found people are often put off applying to become a carer because they don’t believe they have the right skills and experiences.
In a new cookbook – Bring Something to the Table – Foster Wales highlights the simple things a carer can offer – like the security of a regular meal, family time around the table, and creating new food favourites.
Bring Something to the Table has over 20 recipes, including recipes from the foster care community and celebrity chefs including MasterChef Winner Wynne Evans; Young MasterChef judge Poppy O’Toole, and Olympic athlete and foster care campaigner Fatima Whitbread, who spent time in care.
Former Great British Bake-Off contestant Jon Jenkins and comedian Kiri Pritchard Mclean have also added recipes – drawing on their personal experiences as foster carers.
And there are contributions from young people who have been in care, like Sophia Warner, who illustrated the book and wrote the foreword.
She said: “When I was younger, I vividly recall grilling my foster mum about the origins of the food she presented, insisting it hailed from Brecon, my beloved childhood stomping ground. I penned ‘Brecon Bolognese’ for the cookbook, based on my foster mum’s recipe.
“This recipe holds a special place in my heart because it was the first meal I had when I moved into my foster home. I mentioned that my birth mum used to make it and my foster mum lovingly prepared it for me. As I sat around the table with my new foster family, I felt a sense of belonging and warmth, making me feel truly welcome.”
To launch the book, Colleen Ramsey, author of ‘Bywyd a Bwyd, Life Through Food’, is hosting a cookery workshop in Cardiff for young care-experienced people.
The cookbook will be distributed to foster carers across Wales and a digital version can be downloaded from: fosterwales.gov.wales/bringsomethingtothetable
If you think you could bring something to the table by becoming a local authority foster carer in Torfaen, find out more and register your interest by visiting www.fosterwales.torfaen.gov.uk